SUPPLY CHAIN ARTICLES

  • "Mirror, Mirror…": Reflections On Reducing mRNA Production COGS

    Here, I outline three overarching words of wisdom I gleaned from Life Edit Therapeutics’ April Sena; Tune Therapeutics’ Tyler Goodwin; and University of Sheffield’s Adi on how the mRNA/RNA industry can better control production costs — particularly as it relates to raw material sourcing and usage.  

  • Cultivating A Thriving mRNA Ecosystem: Key Initiatives & Future Directions

    Overall, I felt that the following initiatives/talking points were demonstrative of the types of creativity and symbiosis that we will need much more of in the near and long-term to foster a healthy and fruitful RNA ecosystem. 

  • Plasmid Production: 3 Key Takeaways For mRNA Manufacturing

    Following my latest Live panel on analytical and manufacturing technology innovations for mRNA production, I wanted to provide a few high-level takeaways I gleaned from our discussion on the overlooked darling of the mRNA space: The plasmid. 

  • ARW's ATMP Manufacturing Must-Reads (2024 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS EDITION!)

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about CGT and RNA therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other ATMP industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Once a month, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional newsletter format (below) and send them out via email.

  • 4 Risk Mitigation Strategies For mRNA Production

    Planning and procuring custom materials needed to manufacture mRNA remains a top concern. This article shares risk mitigation strategies for multi-sourcing, S&OP process, packaging size, and material expiry.

  • Inside Alnylam's Playbook For High Volume siRNA Production

    As one of the first companies to establish a chemoenzymatic ligation platform, Alnylam's Maines and Nechev are in the perfect position to espouse wisdom on the practical aspects and remaining challenges of implementing enzymatic ligation at a large scale. Here in this installment, Maines and Nechev outline what they’ve learned thus far about the science of enzymatic ligation, while also paying credence to the unknowns and existing barriers that, as a frontrunner, Alnylam will inevitably (but willingly) be tasked with facing in the future.

SUPPLY CHAIN VIDEOS

In response to an audience poll question gauging which cGMP materials have proven the most difficult to source, our speakers provide additional clarity around which IVT & LNP-related materials today are more “commoditized”.

There remain a lot of gaps in our understanding of plasmid quality, particularly for high-quality mRNA production (as opposed to viral vector production). In this segment of a recent Advancing RNA Live panel, speakers Adi Nair, Tyler Goodwin, and April Sena highlight their biggest questions around plasmid DNA quality, as well as the pros and cons of some of the analytical methods upon which we’re relying most heavily today to assess plasmid quality.

We all know that plasmid quality is foundational in dictating the quality of the final mRNA drug substance. In this clip homing in on upstream process considerations, speakers Stu Sundseth (Tune Therapeutics), Marc Wolfgang (Sail Biomedicines), and Christian Dohmen (Ethris) outline some of the most important CQAs for plasmids and the impact they can have on the resulting quality of the mRNA drug substance for linear mRNA. 

While we can make lots of mRNA at a smaller scale, when it comes to scaling up to kg quantities of mRNA, our current batch processes leave a lot to be desired. Together, Stu Sundseth of Tune Therapeutics and Christian Dohmen of Ethris unpack the biggest barriers to scaling IVT to achieve the desired yield and quality of mRNA, offering their take on how the field is innovating to overcome these issues. 

ARTICLES, APP NOTES, CASE STUDIES, & WHITE PAPERS